The emergence of multiple drug-resistant bacteria has prompted interest in alternatives to conventional antimicrobials. One of the possible replacement options for antibiotics is the use of bacteriophages as antimicrobial agents. Phage therapy is an important alternative to antibiotics in the current era of drug-resistant pathogens. Bacteriophages have played an important role in the expansion of molecular biology and have been used as antibacterial agents since 1966. In this review, we describe a brief history of bacteriophages and clinical studies on their use in bacterial disease prophylaxis and therapy. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of bacteriophages as therapeutic agents in this regard.
With the rising prevalence of multiple-antibiotic resistant-bacteria (MDRs) and the lack of development of new antibiotics by the pharmaceutical industries, there is an urgent need to develop novel approaches to combat MDRs, especially Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Bacteriophage therapy has been applied for decades as a means of treating bacterial infections in some parts of the world and numerous encouraging results have been documented. Here, we present evidence in murine models that animals infected with MDRs P. aeruginosa can be successfully treated with specific bacteriophages that target these MDRs microbes. We utilized three different forms of bacterial infections on Stage II and III wound on deep lower back of animals; deep wound infection and chronic infection treated the each of the infections by respective dermal application of phages. Furthermore, we successfully tested phage therapy for both acute and chronic infections. We evaluate the potential use of lytic phage on wound contraction; we observed drastic changes on the wounds after 24-hours of phage application. Pros and cons of phage therapy to treat human MDRs are discussed. Journal of Antivirals & Antiretrovirals Isolation and purification of bacteriophageLytic Bacteriophages were isolated from clinical specimen (Urine sample from patients) with urinary tract infections (UTI) by plaque assay and spot assay techniques [16].
CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat) is one of the hallmark of biological tools, contemplated as a valid and hopeful alternatives to genome editing. Advancements in CRISPR-based technologies have empowered scientists with an editing kit that allows them to employ their knowledge for deleting, replacing and lately “Gene Surgery”, and provides unique control over genes in broad range of species, and presumably in humans. These fast-growing technologies have high strength and flexibility and are becoming an adaptable tool with implementations that are altering organism’s genome and easily used for chromatin manipulation. In addition to the popularity of CRISPR in genome engineering and modern biology, this major tool authorizes breakthrough discoveries and methodological advancements in science. As scientists are developing new types of experiments, some of the applications are raising questions about what CRISPR can enable. The results of evidence-based research strongly suggest that CRISPR is becoming a practical tool for genome-engineering and to create genetically modified eukaryotes, which is needed to establish guidelines on new regulatory concerns for scientific communities.
Introduction: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNA molecules that regulate transcriptional and posttranscriptional gene regulation of the organisms. miRNA provides immune defense when the body is faced with challenges intracellular agents. miRNA molecules trigger gene silencing in eukaryotic cells. More than 3,000 different human miRNAs (hsa-miRs) have been identified thus far. During ontogenesis, viral or intracellular parasitic infections, miRNAs are differentially expressed to protect the host from intracellular invaders. In a viral infection context, miRNAs have been connected with the interplay between host and pathogen, and occupy a major role in pathogenesis. Methodology: An in silico approach was used to analyze the four major Ebola Virus genome sequences including the recently characterized Ebola virus responsible for West African epidemic that has killed over 10,000 people. All totaled, 2,543 mature human miRNA sequences were retrieved through an miR-database, and the identification of mature miRNAs were aligned with full length sequences of the four major Ebola viruses via computational tools. Results: We identified 32 miRNAs that exhibited significant inhibitory capacity to block more than one EBV strains. miR-607 showed capacity to quell all four major EBVs. Ten putative miRNAs were found to have near perfect identity at seed sequences with numerous targets of Ebola virus that may completely degrade the viral transcripts. Conclusion: We hypothesize that a miRNA-based vaccine can quell Ebola virus infection. Future approaches will focus on validation of these miRNAs in quelling the Ebola virus to further elucidate their biological functions in primate and other animal models.
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